


dachitabi

by thunderylee



Category: KAT-TUN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Always a Different Sex, Alternate Universe - Friends (TV) Fusion, F/M, Romance, kame and maru are siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-02-26
Updated: 2012-02-26
Packaged: 2019-01-21 12:19:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12457662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thunderylee/pseuds/thunderylee
Summary: It’s not forever alone when there are six of them.





	dachitabi

**Author's Note:**

> reposted from agck.

“Same shit, different year,” Koki says cynically, flopping on the couch and leaning his head back to check on Kame as she takes pans out of the oven.

“This is the third White Day we’ve all been single,” Ueda adds with a prissy sigh, flipping her short red bob out of her face. “Although _some_ of us wouldn’t be if _someone_ had kept _his_ meat out of the butcher’s hands.”

“We were on a break!” Maru yells from the kitchen, where he’s ‘helping’ his sister box up meals for a catering job. “Kazu, help me out here.”

Kame scoffs and rolls her eyes. “I don’t think so, Niichan. I’m on Tatsuko’s side here.”

“See,” Ueda says, and she and Kame share an understanding nod from across the room. “Why are you even part of this conversation, Yuu? Shouldn’t you be spending White Day dipping your precious Masuda-chan in the chocolates she made you for Valentine’s Day?”

“I haven’t even seen her since-” Maru starts, then gives up as the girls pretend to ignore him. Even Taguchi is staring at a magazine, but Maru’s pretty sure she hasn’t been paying attention to any of them.

“Ah!” Taguchi exclaims, flailing her arms as her face lights up brighter than her platinum hair. “Here! We should go here!”

“Where?” Jin asks, not moving his eyes from the TV where he and Koki are religiously watching Baywatch on satellite.

Taguchi holds up the magazine triumphantly, and Maru sees that it’s not a magazine at all – it’s a travel brochure. “Guam!” she declares happily.

“Jun-chan, what’s in Guam,” Kame asks dryly.

“Guamanians,” Taguchi replies pointedly. “And beaches. And warm weather. And _Guamanians_.”

“Wait, I think the Guch is onto something,” Jin says as he sits up importantly, but still doesn’t avert his eyes. “Is it warm enough to swim? I haven’t waxed my junk all winter.”

Koki makes a face, but Taguchi’s nodding so hard that her ponytail is flying from side to side. “Do you want me to do it for you again?”

“ _Hell_ no,” Jin roars, closing his legs for effect. “The last time I think you ripped off part of my boys. Sadistic bitch.”

Taguchi just grins, and Kame looks a little proud. “What I’m saying is that we should all go to Guam for White Day,” Taguchi explains. “Flights are reasonable and Yuichi is rich, anyway-”

“Hey, wait a minute-” Maru interjects.

“Oh, Yuichi’s paying?” Ueda perks up in interest. “I’m there. Kazumi, let’s go bikini shopping tomorrow. I want a really skanky one.”

“I have one you can borrow,” Taguchi offers politely. “It has little Bedazzled triangles and sparkly fringe. You may as well not be wearing anything.”

“ _Perfect_ ,” Ueda says, glaring daggers at Maru.

“What a sweet birthday present, Niichan,” Kame tells Maru. “Since you forgot it last week.”

“I didn’t _forget_ , Kazu,” Maru says exasperatedly. “I’ve been really busy at work, so I wanted to wait until I had time to take you somewhere nice.”

“Those dinosaur bones must be really demanding,” Ueda comments. “Make it up to her by taking us all to Guam for White Day.”

“If I pay for it, will you forgive me for dating someone else _while we were on a break_?” Maru hisses.

“Since you put it like that, no,” Ueda replies simply. “In fact, you should look forward to a very passive-aggressive vacation where I will flaunt hot Guamanians in your face the _entire time_ and have sex with _them all_.”

“Leave some for me,” Taguchi says. “Unless you want to share. I’m cool with that.”

Kame starts to open her mouth, but Maru puts on his scarily protective big brother face and she clears her throat. “Laying out in the sun will be nice,” is all she says. “It’s been so cloudy and gloomy here lately.”

She smiles cutely and Maru admits defeat. “Okay, we’ll go to Guam. But all I’m paying for are the flights and hotel rooms!”

“Yay!” Taguchi exclaims, jumping up to throw her arms around Maru’s shoulders. Maru cowers awkwardly as she bounces and kisses his cheek. He’ll never get used to how close Europeans are with other people, even if Taguchi is only half.

“ _All_ the Guamanian bitches will be _ours_ ,” Jin says to Koki in a low voice like no one can hear him, lifting his hand for a bro fist.

“Actually…” Koki sinks down even further into the couch. “I’ve got my eye on someone, so I’ll probably just enjoy the sun and ocean, too.”

“Suit yourself, man,” Jin says with a laugh. “More for me!”

“What if I decide to-” Maru asks, then changes his mind at Ueda’s narrowed eyes. “… surf?”

That makes them all laugh, and Maru smiles good-naturedly. At least Koki will be able to keep the perverts away from his precious sister while he tries to make amends with Ueda.

*

“I can’t fucking believe this,” Kame bitches for the fortiest time since they got off the plane, using both hands to hold down her giant mass of hair while Maru struggles to carry both of their bags.

“I had no idea your hair was so thick, Kazumi,” Taguchi says, looking fascinated as she examines Kame’s ‘fro like it’s an exhibit at the zoo. “Don’t you go to the beaches in Japan?”

“Somehow it’s more humid here,” she grumbles, her eyebrows narrowed so much that they’re almost vertical, and Maru swallows down his comment that she could have snuck some hair gel in one of her four suitcases.

“Maybe it’s going to rain,” Jin says. He has a ‘fro, too, but his is intentional.

“Stupid,” Koki grumbles. “It’s a gorgeous tropical island. There’s only that one cloud in the sky, and-”

He’s cut off by a loud boom, that one cloud turning dark before their eyes and opening up, dropping warm rain on them all.

Only Kame looks happy about this, because her hair is finally flattening. Jin stares up at the sky like he can’t believe his eyes, making no effort to remove his sunglasses, and Maru just shakes his head and looks around for a shuttle to take them to the hotel. He finds a pair of open-top Jeeps, which is good enough, and it doesn’t matter that it keeps raining because they’re already soaked to the bone.

When they get to the hotel, Jin and Taguchi do the talking. Jin was going to do it on his own, being mostly fluent in English and all, but neither Maru nor Kame thought that was a good idea and insisted that Taguchi go with him, even if the extent of Taguchi’s English can be found in pornographic movies. Maru figures worst case scenario, she can work her half-French magic and fix whatever they inevitably fuck up.

“Jyan~!” they both declare when they come back from the registration desk, each holding out three key cards. “We got two rooms,” Taguchi tells them. “One for the boys and one for the girls, though they’re on opposite sides of the hotel.”

“I’m fine with that,” Ueda says briskly. “Then poor Yuichi won’t have to cry himself to sleep when I’m having loud, kinky sex with the locals.”

Maru feels a pat on his shoulder and turns to find Koki giving him a sympathetic look. “I’m really not going to cry,” he tells him.

“If you do, my shoulder is here,” Koki says seriously, and Maru can’t tell if he’s being mocked or not.

“Come on, Niichan,” Kame calls out as she leads the girls down the hall. “Let’s take our bags to our rooms and congregate back in the lobby.”

“But your room is all the way across the hotel…” Maru replies, but Kame’s already taken off in the other direction of Jin and Koki, carrying nothing but her purse and her many pounds of hair.

Reluctantly, Maru trudges all of their luggage up to the girls’ rooms, where he’s instantly shooed out so they can change, the door slammed in his face. He takes a deep breath and treks back to the other side of the building, where Koki’s watching TV with his hand in his pants while Jin’s standing in front of the mirror, sucking in his stomach.

“Man, it’s hard to stay buff at my age,” Jin whines. “Must be harder to keep muscle as you get older.”

Maru says nothing, just lifts up his shirt and watches Jin’s pout as he takes in Maru’s six-pack abs and the realization that he’s a year younger than Maru. Koki snorts from the bed – the _one_ bed, Maru notices, dropping his shirt as he eyes Jin.

“Jin, why is there only one bed?”

“It was cheaper,” he replies. “Thought you would appreciate saving money. Jun-chan thought it was a good idea, too.”

“Jun-chan thought marrying a gay ice skater was a good idea,” Maru points out. “Though that Ohkura is a really nice guy, with an _excellent_ sit spin.”

“How is that any different than marrying a lesbian again?” Koki calls over.

“For the last time, Maki wasn’t a lesbian when I married her!” Maru exclaims.

Jin slings an arm around him. “It happens to the best of us, man. Lesbians are hot until they stop letting you watch.”

Maru thinks about his ex-wife’s militant life partner and shudders at the thought. He has absolutely no desire to know what they do in the bedroom, as kinky as he’s sure it is.

“Back to this one bed,” Koki says, “I’m not sleeping in the middle.”

“Not it!” Jin yells, then points at Maru. “Yuichi in the middle!”

“You know, it’s not normal for three grown men to share a bed,” Maru grumbles.

“Sure it is,” Jin says brightly. “We did it in Boy Scouts all the time.”

“That explains a lot,” Koki mutters, and Maru’s inclined to agree. “How long do you think it will take the girls to get ready?”

“Koki, they’re women,” Jin says exasperatedly. “We could take a fucking nap and still be ready before them.”

“Especially with Kazumi’s hair exploding like that,” Maru adds. “She looks like she should be on the Jersey Shore.”

“I like it,” Koki says. “It frames her face really well and makes her look a little Latina.”

Maru blinks. “You should tell her that, I bet that would make her feel better.”

“Maybe I will,” Koki replies without meeting Maru’s eyes. “Well, I’ll take the first shower if you guys don’t mind.”

“Pfft, shower,” Jin says, grabbing his imported Axe body spray and spritzing it under his arms and down the front of his pants. “Ready!”

“How do you ever get laid,” Maru asks flatly.

“Don’t ask if you don’t want to know.” Jin waggles his eyebrows. “And hey, speaking of getting laid, are you really okay with Tatsuko hooking up with other guys?”

“We’re not together, she can hook up with whoever she wants,” Maru says dismissively, trying to keep the thoughts out of his head.

“As a friend, though,” Jin presses. “She’s not usually like that, you know? She basically went from that dentist she left at the alter, to you. What was his name again?”

“Nishikido,” Maru spits out the name like it tastes bad. “I really hate that guy.”

“Yeah, he was a dick,” Jin offers. “Cheating isn’t cool. That’s why I don’t actually date girls, because then I can’t cheat on them, you know?”

“I guess I can respect that,” Maru says. “Let’s stop talking about it, okay? We’re supposed to be on vacation.”

“That’s the spirit!” Jin says with a grin. “Isn’t there a bar in this hotel? Come on, Yuichi, we don’t need sun and surf to get laid.”

Drinking is the absolute worst thing he can do right now, especially since any drunk dialing would incur roaming charges, but all he says is, “Let’s wait for Koki.”

*

Taguchi’s dress shines brighter than the disco ball hanging from the ceiling, but her face is all pout. “Isn’t this Guam? Why aren’t there any Guamanians here?”

“Because this is a hotel?” Kame says gently, sipping her sixth fruity drink that she’d insisted is on Maru’s tab. “Wouldn’t they all have their own homes and neighborhood bars to go to?”

“It seems wrong to seduce the employees,” Taguchi says with a huff. “Although they would have keys to the upscale suites…”

“Get it, girl,” Koki says, trying to sound thug, and Taguchi humors him with a smile. “Look at Jin, he’s not letting nationality stop him.”

“Or gender,” Kame adds smugly. “That’s definitely not a woman he’s talking up.”

Four heads swivel towards the bar, where Jin’s halfway in the lap of a pretty Japanese girl with blonde hair and a cute face, who’s blinking sparkly eyes at him and hanging on his every word.

“Looks like a woman to me,” Maru mutters, and Koki nods next to him.

“She’s wearing a scarf in tropical weather,” Ueda informs them. “Obviously it’s to cover up her very unfeminine Adam’s Apple. And the collar of her dress is way too high cut, because she has nothing real to hold it up.”

“Jin’s always been a leg man,” Kame says with a fond smile, which falls as Maru peers at her. “So I hear, anyway.”

Taguchi shrugs. “A mouth is a mouth in the dark. And she really does look like a woman.”

They all watch in amusement as Jin notices them looking and guides his lady of the evening over to their table. “This is Tegoshi Yuuko,” he introduces them. “She’s Japanese but born in Guam, on Spring Break from university right now.”

“Nice to meet you,” Tegoshi says sweetly, her voice all air, and Kame and Ueda look even more vindicated. “Shall we go?”

“Yes we shall,” Jin replies, sticking his tongue out where Tegoshi can’t see as she leads him out of the bar.

“Should we tell him?” Koki asks after a beat.

“Nah,” Maru says, feeling much better about the evening now. “Let the man make his own life choices.”

Taguchi’s eyes follow the pair as they leave the bar, Jin’s hand on Tegoshi’s swaying ass. “That pretty girl really has a penis? That’s kind of hot.”

Koki’s palm connects with his face and Maru suddenly becomes very interested in the dinner menu. Kame and Ueda just down their drinks and signal for another round, which Maru already knows is going on his tab. Three hours later, Kame’s slurring one-syllable words and curling her hair around her fingers, trying to get it to look like snakes so she can be Medusa.

“I think you should go to bed,” Ueda tells her point-blank. “And if you throw up on my stuff, I’ll kill you.”

“Victim spotted,” Taguchi announces, pushing her lips together and fluffing her hair before standing and making a beeline for a very attractive man at the bar. “Hello,” she says in French. “My name is Jun-Chloe Taguchi. I don’t know any English except ‘fuck me hard’. ”

As she’s led out of the bar, Maru resigns himself to carrying his sister up to her room. “Let me just pay my tab and we’ll go,” he says.

“I can take her,” Koki offers, looking sheepish as he stares down at his hands. “I mean, if you want to stay here. I don’t mind.”

“Kouchaaaaaaaaan,” Kame whines, followed by a giggle and a hiccup. “You’re too little to pick me up.”

“Wanna bet?” Koki challenges her, then crosses over to the other side of the table and leans down so that she can get on his back. Kame slumps right onto him and Maru rushes to help her, but Koki’s already securing her arms around his neck and lifting her up by her legs. He seems to be holding his own, and her, so Maru sits back in his seat and rests assured that his drunk little sister is in good hands.

“I’ll give you money for this tomorrow,” Koki tells Maru, blowing Kame’s frizzy hair out of his face as she groans and hugs his neck. “Please don’t get sick on me, Kazumi.”

“Stop bouncing then,” Kame says, and Koki flashes Maru a panicked look before he leaves, walking very carefully.

Maru had been so concerned about Kame that he didn’t realize that this arrangement left him alone with Ueda until he sees the other staring at him from across the table, drinking something orange with contemplative eyes.

“Can we just stop, with the games and being mean to each other?” Maru asks bluntly, his liquid courage growing. “We’re friends above all else, right?”

Slowly, Ueda nods, her lips not letting up on her straw. Maru finds himself drawn to them, remembering how they felt against his so long ago, and shakes himself out of it before he can get distracted. The last thing he needs right now is a drunken one night stand with his ex-girlfriend, who just happens to be the girl he’s been in love with since high school.

Ueda’s drink dwindles down to nothing until her sucking is audible, and Maru starts to signal for another drink before she shakes her head. “I’ve had enough,” she says decidedly, placing the glass on the table with all the grace of a poised, sophisticated woman. “How is Ren?”

“He’s good,” Maru replies, a little taken aback at the sudden interest in his son. “Maki says he’s showing a big interest in the military, which is great, though I’m sure it’s more Meisa-san’s influence than mine.”

Ueda hides a laugh. “Every time I start to beat myself up for wasting so much of my life with Nishikido, I remember that you married a lesbian and instantly feel better.”

“Glad to be of help,” Maru says slowly. “How’s work?”

“Oh, you know, the usual.” Ueda waves dismissively as she leans back in the booth. “Nino keeps hitting on me, but I think he’s just trying to prove that he likes girls. I don’t believe it for a second, though, not with the way he looks at that stockbroker Ohno whenever he comes into the coffee house. He’s like a lovesick puppy for that one, remembering how he likes his coffee and everything, and Ohno-san looks like he wouldn’t notice if Nino was dancing on a pole in front of him wearing a g-string.” She makes a face. “Ugh, I just grossed myself out.”

Maru laughs. “Sounds much more entertaining than my job.”

“And how _are_ the dinosaur bones?” Ueda asks, feigning interest.

“They’re still there,” Maru replies. “And they’ve been there for thousands of years.”

Ueda blinks. “You know Kazumi has the hots for Koki, right.”

“W-what,” Maru sputters, feeling like the world was pulled out from under him. “ _Koki_?”

“I don’t get it either, but she told me earlier that he’s been really nice to her lately.” Ueda shrugs. “You know she’s had a bad run with men, especially that Kimura guy who was friends with your dad, and we’re not getting any younger. She said maybe it’s time to give up looking for Mr. Right and go with someone she feels comfortable with, someone who treats her well and respects her.”

“Why are you telling me this,” Maru deadpans.

Ueda smiles sweetly. “Because they’re probably having sex right now.”

Dropping his head into his hands, Maru growls for the check in marginally passable English and just hands over his credit card without looking at the total. He already has a headache, so he figures it’s better if he doesn’t know how much of a tab they racked up.

“Thanks for this, by the way,” Ueda says as she grips Maru by the arm to keep him from racing through the hotel at one-thirty in the morning. “As crappy as this trip is, it’s better than sitting at home feeling sorry for ourselves because we’re forever alone.”

“We’re _not_ forever alone,” Maru says firmly, stopping in his tracks and staring into Ueda’s eyes. They’re a little glossy and bloodshot under the unflattering fluorescent lighting, but they look back at him with coherence and that’s good enough for him. “There are six of us. There is no possible way we can be alone when we’re all together. It’s basic math.”

Now Ueda smiles for real, the one that has one side lift higher than the other, and Maru falls in love all over again. “Even though four of us are getting laid right now?”

“You don’t know that,” Maru huffs, returning to the mission at hand as he trudges towards the girls’ room. “You go in first, in case they really are doing it.”

“Me seeing Koki naked is much more traumatizing than you seeing your sister,” Ueda tells him. “At least you two are related. And Kazumi doesn’t have any tattoos on her ass.”

“Both of us at the same time,” Maru compromises as they approach the door. “Put the key in, Tatsu.”

“What, are we going to bust in like the cops?” Ueda asks. “Let them be _happy_ , Yuichi. This won’t just be a one-time thing with them, you know? Koki looks positively smitten with her, too. He will be good to her, better than any other man she could possibly end up with.”

Maru sighs, lifting his hand from the door.

“Don’t you want her to be happy?” Ueda presses. “Just because we’re miserable doesn’t mean they should be.”

“We don’t have to be miserable,” Maru mumbles, his eyes widening at the realization he actually said that out loud, but before Ueda can react, the door clicks open.

“Ah!” Koki exclaims, dropping the ice bucket and sending it rattling. “Why are you two standing out here like a pair of creepers?”

“Yuichi was just walking me to my room,” Ueda lies smoothly.

“And I’m taking you back with me,” Maru says pointedly to Koki. “Is Kazu okay?”

Koki pushes open the door, and the hallway is filled with the sounds of the loudest snoring Maru has ever heard. “Good enough answer for you?”

“Lovely,” Ueda says dryly. “Well, good night. Maybe it won’t be raining tomorrow.”

“Good night,” Maru replies, grabbing Koki by the shoulder and dragging him down the hall. “You and I need to talk.”

“About?” Koki squeaks.

“About you and my sister.”

“There’s nothing going on between me and Kazumi!” Koki exclaims, a little too fast. “We’re friends, just like the six of us have been for years.”

“Keep it that way,” Maru grumbles, and doesn’t let go of Koki’s shirt until they get back to their room.

It’s empty, and Koki laughs. “Looks like Jin made peace with his gay side tonight.”

“Not something I want to think about before bed,” Maru says as he flings off his shirt and flops face down in the center. Koki shoves him as he gets in next to him, but says nothing and the next thing Maru knows, he’s waking up between two snoring bodies with a pounding headache.

But the sun is up, and he already knows that it’s going to be a great day.

*

There are a lot more things to do in Guam when it’s not raining. It’s a lazy morning, the six of them congregating in the girls’ room drinking complementary coffee and watching Ellen while Kame fights with her hair and Taguchi cringes every time she moves. Around noon they venture outside, where there are numerous salesmen ready to take them on excursions and teach them how to scuba dive, and they finally decide on a boat trip.

The weather is beautiful and the ocean is sparkling, the air salty and the atmosphere serene. Maru sits next to Ueda and it’s not awkward at all, smiling when he turns to see the wind blowing through her hair. He can’t see her eyes behind her big sunglasses, but she looks happy. They all do, except Koki who had forgotten to take his Dramamine and got violently seasick for awhile.

He watches how Kame acts around Koki, rubbing his back while he was throwing up over the edge of the boat and looking concerned for his welfare, but Kame acts like that with everyone. She’s very caring, even if she comes across as cold at first. And she’d given up on her hair and borrowed one of Jin’s baseball caps, which she’d practically boiled and doused with hand sanitizer before she put it on, so she isn’t looking particularly enticing at all.

That pleases Maru, at least until they get to the beach and Kame unwraps her cover-up. “A bikini, Kazu, really?”

“I am twenty-six years old and I can wear a bikini if I want to,” Kame informs him. “Don’t look if it bothers you.”

“It doesn’t bother me that you’re wearing it,” Maru tells her. “It bothers me how men look at you when you wear it.”

“Calm down, Yuichi,” Ueda calls from the next towel, and Maru tries not to look at _her_ bikini. “If anyone tries to jump her, I’ll punch them in the junk.”

Maru cringes, but Kame smiles. “Satisfied, Niichan?”

Defeated, Maru returns to Taguchi and the two other guys, who are in the ocean. Jin’s actually surfing and doing a bad job of it, which is entertaining everyone, and Koki and Taguchi are floating in the water just off the coast.

“It’s cold,” Koki warns him, but Maru still jumps in and screeches at the low temperature.

“Ooh, a fin!” Taguchi exclaims. “Maybe it’s a shark.”

Koki and Maru exchange a look as she swims towards whatever she had seen, and Maru knows they’re both wondering if she’s serious or not.

“Ugh, just seaweed!” she calls back. “How disappointing.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Maru returns to swimming and watching Jin wipe out, periodically checking on Kame and Ueda up on the beach.

“It’s so obvious that you still love Tatsuko,” Taguchi says to him, and Maru doesn’t even bother to flinch. “You two are both being really stubborn about this, aren’t you?”

“I don’t think she ever loved me,” Maru says quietly. “Not the way I loved her.”

Now he flinches as he’s smacked by two different hands. “This isn’t a drama, Yuichi,” Koki chides him. “Love is relative, and something that can be born just as fast as it can die. Even if she didn’t love you then, or now, she could.”

“Don’t be such a downer,” Taguchi adds. “Chicks dig guys who are confident.”

“I’m not confident,” Maru admits. “I’m not much of anything.”

“Oh, for the love of Baywatch, get out of the ocean before you drown yourself or something,” Koki mutters, shoving him up the beach. “You’re more pitiful right now than Jin thinking he can surf.”

Maru finds an empty spot a good ways away, where he can see all five of them, and tries to relax. This is supposed to be a vacation right? He paid for all of them to come here, so he should at least have a good time. Vacations with your friends were supposed to be fun.

They grab lunch at a nearby vendor, then loiter around the beach for most of the afternoon. Everyone is in good spirits, laughing and smiling and Maru’s own mood is lifted much higher by the time they return to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

“You look a little red,” Koki says as they take turns showering. “Did you put sunscreen on?”

Maru feels his face paling, which may only be in theory since it’s still hotter than the rest of him. “Oh, no,” he says.

It’s Kame who brings the aloe to the outdoor restaurant, a large Costco-sized bottle filled with sparkling blue lotion, and Maru no longer questions the logic of her suitcase packing. “Only my dumb brother would get sunburned in March,” she says, but she’s putting aloe on his shoulders and she can mock him all he wants as long as he doesn’t have to raise his arms to do it himself. Everything above the waist feels raw and dry right now.

“Well, rainstorms, seasickness, and sunburns aside,” Koki declares, “this has been a pretty awesome White Day.”

“It totally has,” Taguchi adds, and the others murmur their agreement as well. “This was such a good idea. As expected of me.”

“To being forever alone!” Ueda toasts, holding up her drink, and Maru can swear she winks at him as the six of them clank their glasses together and cheer.

Maru can think of worse things than being forever alone with these guys.

*

“Look what I found!” Kame sing-songs when they get back to the girls’ room, waving a small flash drive around in her hands. “I had to borrow a suitcase from Mom and this was in one of the pockets. It’s dated with my first year of high school, which would have made Niichan and Tatsuko third years.”

“Best year of my life,” Ueda says fondly, while Maru just grunts because he _completely_ disagrees.

“I wish I would have gone to school with you guys,” Taguchi says wistfully. “French high school is boring. Nothing but sex and art history.”

“Oh, oh!” Kame flails, pointing to her laptop as the video starts. “This is Christmas, Tatsu, remember? We were both dating those basketball players and had this whole romantic trip planned.”

“And _everything went wrong_ ,” Ueda adds, flopping on Kame as they settle in to watch. “I can’t believe your parents recorded this.”

“They thought I was going to lose my virginity that night,” Kame says. “They wanted my last few hours as a virgin documented forever. They’re very strange people.”

Suddenly Jin sits up, staring in awe at the screen. “That girl ate Kazumi!”

“I was a little heavier back then,” Kame says pointedly.

“A _little_?” Maru scoffs, then whines as Kame smacks his sunburn.

“I think she looks healthy,” Koki says, and Maru notices Kame’s smile change. “Is that… Tatsuko? Her nose looks different.”

Ueda instantly rushes to cover her nose. “I, um, broke it when I turned eighteen.”

Jin snorts. “And they just gave you a new one?”

“Yes,” Ueda says firmly. “That’s exactly what happened.”

Then Maru comes on the screen and the other five shriek in laughter at his bad perm and patterned clothing. “It was the style back then, okay,” he says defensively

“Good thing you lost that before uni,” Koki teases, “or I would have never talked to you.”

Maru cringes at the way his seventeen-year-old self is gazing at Ueda, but nobody else seems to notice. He remembers being incredibly jealous that she was dating that guy and angry that his friend was going to deflower his precious little sister, though he liked seeing them both so happy. Right now, in the video, Kame and Ueda are giggling like the teenage girls they are as they check their bags and each other’s makeup and listen to the questionable advice given by Mama and Papa Kamemaru.

Then Kame’s date shows up, and his face alone has Maru’s heart sinking into his chest, because he suddenly recalls what happens next. “We don’t really have to watch this, you guys,” he tries, but Kame and Ueda are squealing too loudly to hear him.

“Shirota-senpai,” Kame reminisces fondly. “He was so _tall_.”

Ueda snorts. “He was the only guy in school whom you wouldn’t _crush_.”

“Speaking of noses,” Koki says with a whistle, elbowing Maru. “He puts yours to shame.”

“I have to know,” Jin asks, looking a cross between scandalized and interested, “did he hit it that night?”

“I can’t answer that with my brother here,” Kame replies, and Ueda’s laugh makes it sound like she’s had more than the few drinks they’d had at dinner.

“I’m going to leave anyway,” Maru says, getting to his feet. “I don’t want to watch the rest of this.”

“Why?” Koki asks, looking concerned. “What happens?”

“Something I don’t want to relive,” is all Maru says as he crosses the room.

“Oh, that’s right,” Ueda’s voice stops him, though he doesn’t turn around. “My date was super late, remember? And we thought he wasn’t going to come- damn, I’m ugly when I cry.”

“No, you’re not,” Maru says under his breath, even though he can’t see the video anymore. It’s been eleven years, but he can see it in front of his eyes like it’s happening all over again.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Jin says then, the five of them completely invested like this is a particularly suspenseful drama. “Kazu, what did your mom mean when she told Yuu to get ready?”

“I… don’t know,” Kame replies quietly. “I’ve never heard anything about this.”

Maru should leave, but it’s too late. He hears the shrieks of the girls on the video as Ueda’s date finally arrives, which means the camera is on him, standing on the stairs in his awful perm, dressed in nicer (unpatterned) clothes with a bag that he had just packed to go on an outing. An outing to take the place of whatever his name was so that Ueda could still have her special day and not be a third wheel to Kame and Beak-man.

There’s a deathly silence as the video ends and Kame’s desktop of Oda Nobunaga flashes back on, and it seems that everyone is too stunned to mock her for it.

It’s Kame who speaks first. “Niichan, you were really going to go with us that day, weren’t you?”

Maru nods once, his back still facing them. “I couldn’t stand to see her cry.”

Nothing happens for so long that Maru’s curiosity gets the best of him and he turns around, seeing four shocked faces and Ueda staring at the floor. Slowly, almost so slowly that Maru’s not sure it’s really happening, Ueda pushes herself up from Kame’s lap and rolls off the bed, standing up straight and walking calmly towards Maru, at whom she’s staring with unreadable – but misty – eyes.

She doesn’t stop when she reaches Maru, grabbing him by the face and pressing their mouths together, and Maru’s so amazed and surprised and _happy_ that he doesn’t realize his skin is on fire until he tilts his head to kiss her back.

“Ow, ow, ow,” he hisses, sending Ueda jumping back like she was the one who had been burned. “Sunburn.”

“Right, sorry,” Ueda says evenly, a little breathless, and Maru watches her chest rise and fall with her quick gasps of air. “Do your lips hurt, too?”

“No,” Maru replies. “I usually use Chapsti-”

He’s cut off by her mouth, no hands this time, and Maru feels in her kiss everything she can’t say, everything he can’t begin to understand, but he’ll take it. She can’t touch him but he can certainly touch her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her as close as he dares, devouring her mouth and forgetting about everyone else in the room as he makes up for lost time.

“Does this mean we’re not on a break anymore?” he whispers hopefully, holding both of her hands in his.

“No more breaks,” she says firmly. “All or nothing.”

“I’ve loved you since I was seventeen,” Maru confesses, finally.

“I know,” Ueda replies, her voice wavering a little. “We all just saw it on your face. We were together for six months and you never _told_ me?”

“I didn’t want to scare you away,” Maru tells her. “It was fun and casual and even when it got serious, I don’t know, it just felt that it would make things too heavy.”

“I wish Yuusuke would have never showed up that night,” she declares. “I think my life would have gone a lot differently if we had been together since then.”

“Mine, too,” Maru realizes out loud, thinking of Maki and Ren and all of the years in between. “I think it’s better that we waited until now, though. That is, if you’ll take me back.”

“Stupid,” Ueda says affectionately, swallowing back her emotions. “I never let you go.”

As they kiss again, Maru hopes that Jin and Koki know they’re sleeping somewhere else tonight.

*

Maru couldn’t have been asleep that long, his dry throat waking up him, and he’s walking back to bed when he catches movement out the window. The hotel makes a square around a giant courtyard, where the pools and other amenities are, so he can see the rooms on the other side. At such a late hour, only one room having the light on is quite noticeable.

Maru realizes two things at the same time: one, it’s the girls’ room, which is now Kame and Taguchi’s room since Ueda’s in _his_ bed; and two, that’s not Taguchi in there with his sister, holding her up against the wall right in front of the window and moving against her quite lewdly as he kisses her senseless.

“Yuichi, are you okay?” Ueda asks, sliding out from under the covers and sleepily joining him at the window. “You look like you’re about to throw this glass at the window- oh.”

“Yeah,” Maru says, letting her take the glass from his hand and set it on the table because he really does want to throw it at the window. “That fucker lied to me. I’m going to kill him.”

“No, you’re not,” Ueda argues, and she’s right. “Let’s go back to bed, I feel like a pervert.”

“They should close the goddamn curtains!” Maru rages. “Anyone on this side of the building can look out the window and see them.”

Koki and Kame stop abruptly, both looking to the side, and Kame reaches for the hotel phone. Once she answers, Maru hears Ueda speak. “Yuichi knows about you and Koki, and you may want to close the curtains.”

Ueda hangs up the phone in their room and Maru watches Kame’s eyes turn right towards him, widening at the recognition though she can’t possibly see him in this dark room. She says something to Koki, who turns pale, and it’s almost comical how they both scramble to close the curtains, sparing Maru from the rest of their tryst.

“Come on,” Ueda urges, tugging on his fingers, and Maru begrudgingly follows her under the covers. “It was inevitable, you know.”

“What was?” Maru asks.

“You and me, Kazumi and Koki,” Ueda answers, snuggling against Maru’s chest. It doesn’t hurt as long as there’s no pressure on his skin. “I don’t know, it just feels like this is how it’s supposed to be.”

“What about Jin and Jun-chan?” Maru questions. “Are they going to get together next?”

Ueda snorts. “Not if Jin keeps hooking up with trannies. Though I think Jun has a strap on, so she could probably make it work.”

“Not something I wanted in my mind before I go to bed,” Maru grumbles.

“I’ll fix it, then,” Ueda says, leaning up to brush their lips together as she slides her fingers into Maru’s hair, and then he doesn’t know anything but Ueda and love.

*

Jin huffs as he sulks in the booth at the hotel bar. “Life is pretty bad when Yuichi’s having sex and I’m not.”

“Where’s the penis-lady from last night?” Taguchi asks calmly.

“I… that is…” Jin looks sheepish as Taguchi eyes him knowingly. “That was an experience I’m not too sure I want to have again.”

Taguchi throws her head back and laughs, exposing her throat, and when she looks at Jin again, he’s staring at her incredulously. “What?”

“Yuichi and Tatsuko, Koki and Kazumi,” Jin says slowly. “When will it be Jin and Jun-Chloe starring between the sheets?”

Smiling, Taguchi pats Jin on the shoulder. “In due time.”


End file.
